News of the Western Belize Recreational Area, about 500 square miles of waterfalls, caves, Mayan ruins and pyramids, Belize Alps, foothills, ranches and farms, tourist accomodations of all types and description, tours and expeditions for vacationers and visitors. Even a small growing expatriate retirement group of people from different countries. In Belize, this is where it is happening, all the things that are fun and even serious, with a climate of ETERNAL SPRING.

Friday, March 1, 2013

AMANDALA NEWSPAPER REPORTS ICJ INVASION AND OCCUPATION PLAN, BY GUATEMALA ALREADY IS REAPING RESOURCES OF THE SOUTHERN WATERS OF BELIZE EACH NIGHT. No referendum yet for ICJ but already Guatemala invades shrimp fisheries of Southern Belize forbidden to Belize fishermen in the name of conservation.

Reports were made repeatedly, but GoB acts as if it “couldn’t care less”

There were reports last week Monday that
about 20 Guatemalan trawlers had been spotted operating in the waters
of southern Belize, south of Punta Gorda, but word to us at press time
tonight, Thursday, is that the trawlers are still in what is believed to
be Belizean waters.

Punta Gorda activist and leader of the
People’s National Party, Wil Maheia, told us tonight that this is a
regular occurrence whenever the weather is good, as it is now.

“We have reported this time and again to
our Belizean authorities,” he told us, “but nothing is ever done – the
Guatemalans do as they like.”

Maheia said that he blames the lack of
enforcement in the area for the repeated acts of illegal trawling by the
Guatemalans. It is for this reason that Maheia started his activism,
because he feels that there is no official concern for what is happening
in that area.

This incident only brings to mind the
situation Belize and Guatemala are in as they prepare their countries
for what could be one of the biggest historical events in both
countries, the October 6, 2013 referendum on the matter of taking the
territorial, maritime and insular dispute to the International Court of
Justice (ICJ).

Guatemalan citizens have routinely
entered Belize illegally and stolen our xate, rosewood and other
valuable trees, killed our protected wildlife, destroyed large tracts of
our pristine forests, and in general, have done whatever they wanted in
a country that is not theirs.

As if these things are not enough, the
Guatemalans were caught doing a method of fishing that is prohibited in
Belize – trawling. Trawling has been banned in Belize since 2010,
largely through the efforts of Oceana Belize.

Oceana Vice-President Audrey Matura-Shepherd said that the illegal trawling seems like an act of aggression by the Guatemalans.

“All I can say is that we view it as an
act of aggression from the Guatemalans against us, one,” Matura-Shepherd
said. “And two, it is obviously the duty of our law enforcement
authorities to make sure that the ban that was instituted is enforced.”

She added that Oceana is only an NGO,
and they do not have enforcement powers, so it is up to the Government
to enforce the laws through the coast guards and rangers down South.

“The important thing with that, however,
is that these poachers or illegal fishers will come at night, when
obviously our patrol is not out,” she said. “So we have to be more
strategic in how we decide to go after them. We definitely need, as the
NGO that pushed for this ban, to make sure that enforcement in
possible.”

“The Sapodilla Range is part of our
territory, although the Maritime Act did not take the full claim,” she
said. “You have to remember that the Constitution is above that. And
even [if done] in that good faith, it doesn’t mean that the Guatemalans
can come in and do anything in our territory.”

Matura-Shepherd said she thinks there
are lots of overlaps and misunderstandings as to what people believe the
Maritime Act allows.

“But whatever your doubt is, we assure
there is only one answer to it all, your Constitution is your supreme
law,” she said. “We’re entitled to our 12 nautical miles, not three, and
that means that Guatemalans have no right to come and trawl or do any
kind of illegal fishing in our waters, except if we give them the
license.”